Bio-Futures: Science Fiction Stories About Biological Metamorphosis
Pamela Sargent, Kate Wilhelm, James Blish, R.A. Lafferty, Leonard Tushnet, Thomas M. Disch, Ursula K. Le Guin, Poul Anderson, James E. Gunn, Thomas N. Scortia, Frederik Pohl
Rated: 3.00 of 5 stars
3.00
· 1 ratings · 344 pages · Published: 01 Jan 1976
1 • The Planners - (1968) - Kate Wilhelm
27 • Slow Tuesday Night - (1965) - R. A. Lafferty
39 • In re Glover - (1972) - Leonard Tushnet
55 • Emancipation: A Romance of the Times to Come - (1971) - Thomas M. Disch
97 • Nine Lives - (1969) - Ursula K. Le Guin
133 • Call Me Joe - (1957) - Poul Anderson
183 • The Immortals - (1958) - James E. Gunn [as by James Gunn]
253 • The Weariest River - (1973) - Thomas N. Scortia
305 • Day Million - (1966) - Frederik Pohl
315 • Watershed - (1955) - James Blish
Suppose we could:
—genetically alter our bodies so that we could settle alien environments
—use cryonics (the freezing of tissues and organs) to preserve seriously ill people until a cure is found to treat them, or freeze people now alive so that they could be revived in a future when immortality is a reality
—reproduce ourselves by using artificial wombs, test-tube fertilization, or cloning
—plant electronics in human brains so that we could control behavior seen as undesirable
All these possibilities may become actualities in the near future. Will we use these technological advances to transcend our biological destinies, or will we refuse to meddle with nature and reject them altogether? In this collection, Kate Wilhelm, R. A. Lafferty, Leonard Tushnet, Thomas M. Disch, Ursula K. Le Guin, Poul Anderson, James Gunn, Thomas N. Scortia, Frederik Pohl, and James Blish imaginatively consider what our biological future selves will be like.